Monday, November 21, 2016

Carlsbad YSA Week 14 - One Year

This last week has been one of the best weeks of
my mission. It started as one of the hardest. I know that sometimes we have
hard times just so we can be more humble. Sometimes we fall into ruts in life/
on missions and we feel like nothing is working. We start losing motivation and
lose sight of what's really important. What I learned from the visit from
Dallin H. Oaks this last week is that if we come to learn and love the Savior
more everything else becomes easy. It makes sense.

I also learned that this is a gospel of love. The last couple months have been
especially crazy because of the election. The areas I've been in have been a
mixture of conservatives and liberals. Seeing the election as a missionary was
sad. Sometimes it seemed like less than a debate and more of a war! There was
so much hatred and attacking another person's beliefs and morals. On Saturday,
Dallin H. Oaks talked about how we must love the people around us. People can
believe what the want religiously, politically, etc... That doesn't change the
way they should be treated. I realized as members of Christ's church we have an
obligation to represent what we want people to think of Christ. (I mean, we did
promise to take his name upon us when we were baptized.) This is something I
need to work on. It's sometimes hard not to judge people. We see all kinds of
crazy stuff and are rejected. Turning the other cheek is SO MUCH easier said
than done. But I'm setting a goal to do it regardless.

This last week we taught Delshawn. He is excited to receive the priesthood and
go to the temple! WE ARE SO FLIPPIN HAPPY FOR HIM!

On Thursday they turned off the power in our
complex at night. That was a lot of fun and was super scary. Thank you to
whoever sent glow sticks in my package. You saved the day!

Friday I hit my year mark. I am one year old as
a missionary! That was a blast! We got to burn a shirt with Elder Gull that
night. The next morning we had a mission conference and were visited by Dallin
H. Oaks and some other authorities. It was super cool that it was Elder Oaks. He
visited the MTC a year ago when I was there starting my mission and it was
ironic he visited as I began the last year. That was an incredible experience.

At church on Sunday a guy named Steven Miller
came. He has come 3 times now. He a marine and a roommate with a member. He is
elect! We gave him a Book of Mormon last week and he already has a testimony
that it is true. (That was easy). We haven't even taught him yet! We probably
will start teaching him this week.

I want you all to know that I have testimony of
the reality of the atonement of Jesus Christ. He was born... He lived... He
suffered... He died... All for us. There is no greater gift that we could ask
for. You are a child of our Heavenly Father and He knows exactly what you are
going through and what you are struggling with right now. He loves you and
wants you to be happy. He has given us prophets, the Bible and Book of Mormon,
prayer, and the priesthood to help us come closer to him and be happy. I know
this is true. He does care. I know this is Christ church on the earth. I am sad
my experience of sharing the gospel is already half way over and I cannot wait
for the opportunities I have in the year to come. I love each of you and say
all this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.